>>I am also a member of AGE fotostock where I have sold one image in about two years. European oriented and very strangely run! <<
I work with them and I find they are the most professional I have ever met with. They have an office in New York too so I donīt see the European and regarding strange sounds to me more ignorance on your part that real facts. How many images you have with them?
>>AGE is odd in that you have to bill them for the image sold.<<
On my experience having to bill stock agencies is part of the financial side of my professional photographer business and they are not the only one to be invoiced.
>>In other words, you have to check out your sales via their site and then send them an account for images sold.<<
This is not correct. They send you a link every month that shows the images sold.
>>I have never done this with my other agencies.<<
There is plenty of things that I have not done in my life but I donīt find them odd.
>>You also have to supply a declaration that you are a foreign national by sending them a certificate of residency.<<
Most stock agencies that are financially healthy have to do that including Getty and Corbis. I supply to Getty and this was the first paper they required from me.
>>It's wise to let your sales accumulate before sending them an account otherwise you get hit with bank fees. I sent them an account about two months ago and I have yet to get an acknowledgement or any sort of payment.<<
They say in the contract that they can accumulate sales up to $250 before they pay. Something that makes a lot of sense but if you donīt want to wait because you ave a few images with them hence small returns as it seems your case, they pay you using Paypal. You seem to be outdated with your info, Sheila?
>>Makes mental note to send them a reminder.<<
Mental notes are as bad as not being well informed.
>>thedruid wrote:
aGE takes six months to pay for a sale, so if you made a sale in June you should get paid in December or January... Hence the name - it takes AGES to get paid!<<
If they report sales I assume they have to be paid first before they can pay you. Donīt you think? Sales of June are paid in November (5 months) as my contract with them says actually. So, at least I know what they sale for me, however if you are reported and paid collections you never know when the images that you are cashing in were sold. I very much prefer their system that allows me to see the sales flow and I like they report me sales before they have got the money.
It's no secret that the stock end of our business is much different than it was a decade ago. Getty/iStock approached me sometime back to contribute and I had to chew on the reality of seeing an image of mine being used for five bucks, or less. I thought it over and decided to take a run at it. While it's not a fortune, iStock paid me 10K over the last year and I haven't had to do a thing other than watch the deposits roll in. No, it's not like a decade ago, but those days are over and 10 grand is still ten grand.
Agefoto has yet to pay me for a sale made now over 9 months ago! I also had to invoice them and still I wait. Corbis on the other hand has already paid me for my sales made in Dec of 2011 and I don't have to do anything except deposit the check in my account.
bestbet wrote:
>>AGE is odd in that you have to bill them for the image sold.<<
On my experience having to bill stock agencies is part of the financial side of my professional photographer business and they are not the only one to be invoiced.
>>In other words, you have to check out your sales via their site and then send them an account for images sold.<<
This is not correct. They send you a link every month that shows the images sold.
>>I have never done this with my other agencies.<<
There is plenty of things that I have not done in my life but I donīt find them odd.
>>You also have to supply a declaration that you are a foreign national by sending them a certificate of residency.<<
Most stock agencies that are financially healthy have to do that including Getty and Corbis. I supply to Getty and this was the first paper they required from me.
>>It's wise to let your sales accumulate before sending them an account otherwise you get hit with bank fees. I sent them an account about two months ago and I have yet to get an acknowledgement or any sort of payment.<<
They say in the contract that they can accumulate sales up to $250 before they pay. Something that makes a lot of sense but if you donīt want to wait because you ave a few images with them hence small returns as it seems your case, they pay you using Paypal. You seem to be outdated with your info, Sheila?
>>Makes mental note to send them a reminder.<<
Mental notes are as bad as not being well informed....Show more →
I have never received any email from AGE regarding my sales (and I have sold) and when I asked them why I had received no email, they suggested that I must have changed my email address and I have not.
No other stock agency I know of requires contributors to bill them before receiving payment. Neither Getty, Alamy and many others do not require this. There is no mention on their website that they will pay by PayPal, ( states "We can pay you either by check or wire transfer. If you prefer to be paid by wire transfer, please provide us with the following details: Name of account holder (name/business name) etc") nor can I find any reference to it in the contract with them.
So rather than nitpicking my response, perhaps you can post a more constructive one.
I erroneously stated that Dreamstime licenses images for one dollar - now they are actually giving them away for free - just under 400,000 images for nada! http://www.stockfreeimages.com/ where they state "Our free images can be used and modified for websites, web banners&headers, advertisements (flyers, brochures, posters), powerpoint presentations, book covers/pages, CD covers, smart phone applications, etc. You will be granted worldwide rights for unlimited projects and up to 10,000 printed copies (unlimited online).."
Micros are definitely where the money is. Slow and small at first, but other than Alamy's occasional sales, it's the way I earn most of my stock money. I run one of the top 2 micro blogs with a list of agencies to take a look at but don't want to post links here. Just search microstock blog and check out the top few sites. You'll see plenty of agencies worth it.
(I'm not going to defend the micro model - as I hate it myself some days - but it makes money. If that's what you're after, that's where you wanna be.)
mavrik wrote:
Micros are definitely where the money is. Slow and small at first, but other than Alamy's occasional sales, it's the way I earn most of my stock money. I run one of the top 2 micro blogs with a list of agencies to take a look at but don't want to post links here. Just search microstock blog and check out the top few sites. You'll see plenty of agencies worth it.
(I'm not going to defend the micro model - as I hate it myself some days - but it makes money. If that's what you're after, that's where you wanna be.)...Show more →
Many folk say that they make their money on micros but never actually state how much they make per annum - $5.00, $50.00, $5,000, $50,000? I am not disputing that photographers make money on micros but other than a select few who joined many years ago, such as Yuri Arcurs, few could actually make a living and the rest accept a few dollars a year thereby devaluing the work of others.
Sheila wrote:
Many folk say that they make their money on micros but never actually state how much they make per annum - $5.00, $50.00, $5,000, $50,000? I am not disputing that photographers make money on micros but other than a select few who joined many years ago, such as Yuri Arcurs, few could actually make a living and the rest accept a few dollars a year thereby devaluing the work of others.
I don't focus on microstock full time or even "part time" but semi-part time and I make between 5 and 10k a year on micros. Last year I uploaded exactly 100 photos and made $7k. I have a portfolio of about 3500 images on most of the micros.
Am I happy with that number? Heck no. But it's $7k more than I would've had otherwise. I have a friend who is full time micro with 6k images in his folio and he makes around $4k a month. He is an illustrator/graphic designer. They seem to make more on the micros still but yeah, it's worth it to me. Uploading 100 images too me less than a week's work for the whole year. I love royalty checks.
Many folk say that they make their money on micros but never actually state how much they make per annum - $5.00, $50.00, $5,000, $50,000?
This is a public forum. Why should I give such personal details to thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of people.
Only my wife, my accountant and the tax office know and should know how much I earn.
But if you publish your address, your mum's maiden name, (and your maiden name, if applicable) your date of birth, your first school, the make of your first car, the names of all your pets, then perhaps I'll tell you how much I make.
Sheila wrote:
Many folk say that they make their money on micros but never actually state how much they make per annum - $5.00, $50.00, $5,000, $50,000? I am not disputing that photographers make money on micros but other than a select few who joined many years ago, such as Yuri Arcurs, few could actually make a living and the rest accept a few dollars a year thereby devaluing the work of others.
I make almost as much money per month from microstrock sales as I do from traditional stock per year. I'm not sure how that devaluates the value of your work, but maybe you could elaborate?
